In 2019, Allen joined USI, the place he served as a apply chief within the brokerage’s property and casualty division, targeted on rising complicated accounts, teaching brokers and recruiting prime expertise.
Now, as president of Franklin Road’s Insurance coverage Companies division, Allen will oversee a nationwide workforce that gives the complete spectrum of economic insurance coverage service choices for industrial actual property house owners, builders and managers, together with program design, market placement, portfolio administration, lender compliance, danger administration and claims advocacy.
What attracted Allen to Franklin Road was the agency’s “deep specialization” in the actual property house. The agency was based in 2006 throughout one of many hardest actual property climates, and has since grown to incorporate seven enterprise divisions: Funding Gross sales, Tennant and Landlord Illustration, Capital Advisory, Insurance coverage, Property Administration, and Challenge Administration.
“Franklin Road was conceived initially as a really numerous actual property ecosystem, and there’s an excessive amount of collaboration throughout the varied divisions of the group,” mentioned Allen. “What attracted me to Franklin Road was a possibility to get very specialised at a time after I assume that’s the development within the insurance coverage dealer house normally.
“When the markets are troublesome and within the age of digitalization, it’s increasingly more essential to be a specialist in our enterprise. Being a generalist is basically one thing of the previous, and, in Franklin Road, we now have a really specialised insurance coverage workforce in a big, diversified group.”
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Franklin Road skilled a document yr in 2021, reaching almost 50% natural income development and $1.5 billion in whole transaction quantity. The Insurance coverage Companies division – one of many agency’s largest divisions – grew by over 25% final yr, reaching document income, earnings, new enterprise wins and renewals.
Allen’s core focus in his new function will likely be to leverage Franklin Road’s collaborative platform to steer the insurance coverage workforce into “new territory and historic development”.
“Franklin Road Insurance coverage Companies does an incredible quantity of enterprise within the residential multifamily actual property house. We’re hyper-focused proper now in that specific part of actual property,” he mentioned. “However the assets and experience that we’ve in-built that house are related to different subsectors inside actual property, corresponding to motels and hospitality. What I’d love to do is develop our enterprise past residential multifamily and increase into different components of the actual property sector.
“Traditionally, Franklin Road has accomplished an excellent job of figuring out and hiring younger expertise, after which teaming that expertise up with extra skilled professionals throughout the group. It’s an incredible mannequin and it’s a mannequin that I intend to proceed to duplicate. I wish to proceed to feed what we’ve been doing within the residential multifamily house, however I’d additionally wish to construct some related groups in different sectors of actual property, corresponding to resort and hospitality.”
Delivering options for industrial actual property purchasers, like these within the resort and hospitality sector, won’t come with out challenges – particularly if these purchasers had been closely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and are actually navigating a fancy restoration.
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“The resort and hospitality sectors had been hit arduous by COVID-19, and so they’re now seeking to strike the correct steadiness of effectivity in danger switch, whereas additionally getting ample safety for themselves,” Allen informed Insurance coverage Enterprise. “As a specialist dealer in the actual property house, we’ve acquired some concepts that they could not have seen earlier than, and that’s one of many explanation why I wish to make investments closely in that house internally and attempt to develop our enterprise there.
“One of many issues that basically attracted me to Franklin Road was the distinctive choices that we’ve developed for our purchasers, which I’ve by no means seen earlier than at any of the most important brokers I’ve labored with. For instance, one of many main challenges that industrial actual property purchasers have is lender compliance, and infrequently the insurance coverage phrases they’re insuring to are dictated not by what’s prudent or environment friendly, however by what lenders require. We’ve really developed a workforce in-house that focuses on assuring lender compliance, but additionally in negotiating with lenders and getting higher phrases.
“To me, the flexibility to be progressive, and create new choices and new assets – like our lender compliance answer – is a real differentiator, and I feel that comes from being hyper-focused in the actual property house.”
Past creating new insurance coverage options for industrial actual property purchasers, Allen will likely be targeted on two priorities within the early phases of his Franklin Road profession. The primary is trying to find new capability, or discovering methods to create capability in what is sort of a tough and restricted property insurance coverage market.
“My different precedence is to determine and entice expertise,” he added. “At Franklin Road, we’ve acquired a extremely fascinating story to inform, which lots of people have by no means heard. I wish to get our story on the market in entrance of my insurance coverage dealer colleagues who’re in the actual property house, and assist them to know that we’re an incredible place to be.”